At midnight Mr. King coughed again. He got up and took some medicine. Before he lay down again, he smoked. And he couldn't go to sleep any longer. He found the medicine book and began to read it. He was afraid he had lung(肺) cancer (癌). He seemed to see death was waiting for him. Tears(眼泪) ran down his face. He didn't see his wife was standing by him.

    “What's wrong with you, dear?” asked the woman.

    “Nothing,” the old man answered and covered his face with his hands.

    The old woman opened the book and understood at once. She said, “You must stop smoking right now.”

    “I began to smoke when I was nine, you know. How can't I do that?”

    “But I think health is more important.”

    Mr. King coughed again and his wife said, “Go to see a doctor tomorrow. He will be able to help you, I think.”

    The doctor told Mr. King to have an Xray examination(检查) of his lungs. And then he looked at the Xray carefully for a long time.

    “Tell me the truth, doctor.” said Mr.King, “Do you see any shadows(阴影)in my lungs?”

    “No, I don't see anything.”

    “Yes?” the old man said happily. “Really?”

    “Yes. Your lungs are turning black. How can I see any shadows?”

    Mr Smith gave his wife money every Friday evening. His wife always spent it all the next Wednesday, so that for the next three days she had no money to spend at all. One day Mr Smith asked her," But how did you spend all that money?" She answered, "I don't know." So one Friday evening, Mr Smith gave her money together with an exercise book and a pencil. He said to his wife, "Please write down how you spend the money." Next Tuesday, his wife had no money again. Mr Smith took the exercise book to see how she had spent it. "I have done what you told me, "she said gladly. She had written "Friday, I got 18 pounds from Mr Smith." on the first page, and on the second page, she wrote, "Tuesday, I have spent it all."

    Mr. Harris taught sixth-grade science. On the first day of class, he gave us a talk about an animal called" birdcat", which died out during the Ice Age. He passed around a skull（头骨） as he talked. We all took notes carefully and later we had a test.

    When he returned my paper the next day, there was a big red"×" through each of my answers. I failed! There must be some mistakes! I wrote down exactly（确切地）what Mr. Harris had said. Then I learned that everyone in the class had failed. Why? "Very simple, "Mr. Harris said, "I made up all that 'birdcat'. But there had never been any such animal. So the information in your notes was not correct. Did you think you would get good grades for that?"

    However, we felt that was unfair. What kind of a test was this? And what kind of a teacher was he?

    Mr. Harris added, "I have told you many unbelievable things about this animal, such as the size, the color, but none of you have questioned. I hope you will learn something from this lesson. Teachers and textbooks are not always correct. In fact no one is." He also told us not to let our minds go to sleep, and to speak up if we thought he or the textbook was wrong.

    Up to now Mr. Harris' class gave me and my classmates something just as important: to look people in the eye and tell them they are wrong.

    What comes to your mind when you hear the word "twins"? Born on the same day? Looking almost the same? Or having the same hobbies? Well, I have a twin brother who was born on a different day from me. We do not look very much alike and we are always interested in different things.

Twelve years ago, my brother, Wayne, was born at eleven fifty-eight on the night of May 28. Five minutes later, I was born一on May 29. Since we were born, I have always been heavier and stronger than Wayne, so people usually think I am the older brother.

    But Wayne is always smarter than L He loves reading and learns many things quickly. He knows a lot about animals, although he does not spend much time with our dogs and birds. He knows e lot about bicycles, but never likes to ride bikes as much as I do.

    Though we are very different, I love my brother very much. I hope both of us can have a happy life in the future.

    When I was young, I lived in Scotland with my parents. I had a good time there.

    One morning, I ran to the garden, and said to the old Scotsman who worked there. "Today I am going up the mountain for berries."

    "No, no, Missey, not today." he said, "It will rain."

    "No, it will not rain." I said, "The sun is up. The cook says it will be fine. The glass in the hall does not say rain."

    "Tuts, tuts." said the old man, "I care for no suns, or cooks, or glasses. The pimpernel (海绿) says it will rain, and so it will rain. Flowers, Missey, always tell the truth. When they say rain, go and get your umbrella."

    Sure enough, by noon the rain was pouring down. After that, I looked with great respect at the tiny flower, sometimes brickred, sometimes blue, which could tell about the weather. But the pimpernel is not the only plant that is a weather prophet.

    If you go into the garden, and find the African marigolds shut after seven o'clock in the morning, you may be pretty sure that there will be a rainy day. There is a little single marigold which shuts up in a hurry if the sky becomes clouded. It is called the "rainy-marigold".

    Most plants which we call "weather prophets" shut up for rain. But some plants open for rain. The cause of the opening and closing is probably the difference in light. Most likely these plants shut their flowers because there is too little light.

    But you know there are some plants which become smaller in a strong light and love the shade. You will find that most shade-loving plants, as the verbenas, do not close for rain.

    Lilies, tulips and other flowers that love the sun shut for rain. Tulips are careful not to open their cups very wide in the morning if it is likely to rain. The roses make no change. They seem not to fear wet.

    On the whole, you may be pretty sure, if you go into your garden, and find many flowers as tulips, marigolds and morning glories shut, it will be a stormy day, unfit for picnics or long walks.